Packaging means for butter and butter substitutes



April 28, 1959 F. H. HANSON 2,884,155

PACKAGING MEANS FOR BUTTER AND BUTTER SUBSTITUTES Filed Sept. 4, 1956 United States Pate PACKAGING MEANS FOR BUTTER AND BUTTER SUBSTITUTES Frances H. Hanson, Oakland, Calif.

Application September 4, 1956, Serial No. 607,920

3 Claims. (Cl. 220-23.4)

This invention relates to improvements in packaging means, and particularly in a combined package and disposable butter dish for butter and like products, and provides a package for a quarter pound of butter or like product, which when opened forms a butter dish with cover, and which, because of its extremely low cost of production permits the dish and cover to be descarded when the butter has been used.

These packages can be formed in units of any desired number for convenient packing in a suitable carton for shipment, and are formed of any material which is economical to manufacture, such as a vinyl or similar plastic, aluminum, or pulp, the pulp at present being the most economical to manufacture as related to the cost of equipment and material.

Butter and butter substitutes are now sold in individually wrapped quarter pounds, four of which are packaged in a carton. For use, each individual quarter must be unwrapped and placed in a butter dish. In many cases, there is insufficient butter on the dish for finishing a meal, and unless another clean butter dish is available, either the butter left in the dish must be removed to another container and the butter dish washed to receive a fresh cube, or, that remaining on the dish first used, the dish washed and another cube placed therein during the meal.

This invention overcomes these inconveniences and interruptions since it is merely necessary to place another package on the table, and when the first dish is empty, merely discard it, thus providing an ideal arrangement in the serving of meals and simultaneously assuring the serving of only fresh butter. As is well known, a fresh cube of butter is sometimes added to the last remnants of butter on the dish, thus subjecting the fresh cube to possibility of taint.

The objects and advantages of the invention are as follows:

First, to provide a combined butter package and disposable butter dish.

Second, to provide a package and dish as outlined which is very economical to manufacture and therefore practical as a sequential "butter package and disposable butter dish.

Third, to provide a package as outlined which is capable of being formed in easily separable multiple units for individual sale or for use as disposable butter dishes.

Fourth, to provide multiple units as outlined having suflici-ent rigidity and compressive resistance to permit stacking in suitable cartons for shipment.

Fifth, to provide the packages with an interior surface which is impervious to softened butter or substitutes and water, or provide a coating of impervious material for protection of the contents.

Sixth, to provide packages as outlined in which the cover is frictionally sealed to the dish for excluding dust, vapors and odors.

In describing the invention reference will be used to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a multiple unit with four separable packages, the covers being deleted from the two packages on the left.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation of Fig. 1 with the right hand package in section.

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of a multiple unit provided with end ties for securing an upper tier invertedly on 'a lower tier.

Fig. 5 is an end elevation of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is an enlarged transverse section through one of the packages showing the interlocking means between the dish and the cover.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary elevation drawn to an enlarged scale and illustrating one of the locking means for releasably locking the cover on the dish.

Fig. 8 is a side elevation of Fig. 7 with a portion indicated at 88 on Fig. 7 shown in section.

The invention consists of a butter dish or tray and a cover, the dish 10 being relatively shallow as indicated at 11 and having a circumferential shoulder 12 terminating in an upstanding flange 13 not less than A; inch in height. The recess in the dish is made to substantially the same dimensions as those of the length and breadth of a cube of butter for retention of the cube against shifting.

The cover is made of substantially the same internal dimensions with the distance between the bottom of the dish at 14 and the top of the cover 15 at 16 being equal to the thickness of a cube, when the bottom 17 of the cover rests on the shoulder 12, the lower 'end of the cover frictionally fitting within the upstanding flange 13, thus the butter is sealed against intrusion of dust, vapors, or other foreign matter and preserved against contamination.

The packing and shipping purposes it is most practical to form the packages in multiple units with the individual packages connected together with easily separable connections with the connections having suificient rigidity to prevent rupture under shipping and handling conditions, the connections extending throughout the major portions of the adjacent ends and sides as indicated at 18 and 19 and being of minimum width as indicated at 20 and being weakened for ease of separation as indicated at 21 and 22, so that they can be broken apart by merely bending two packages toward each other, and which applies to any of the suitable materials. Thus a minimum of space is required, the shoulder and flange being equal to two thicknesses of material and the connection equal to one thickness, making the overall length and width of each unit as illustrated in Fig. 1 equal to the dimensions of a cube of butter plus 4 /2 thicknesses of material which would not be in excess of inch for the material.

If desired, the upstanding flange 13 may be provided with recesses or slots 23 to receive projections 24 at the lower edge of the cover for locking the cover on the dish, the projections being only sufliciently long to engage in the recesses or slots as indicated in Fig. 6.

A modification of the multiple unit is illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 in which there is an extended connection 25 at one end which is of just sufiicient length to permit one set 26 to be inverted over another tier 27 and retain the covers in contact, the other end of the unit being provided with connectable members 28 and 29, which are shown respectively with a slot 30 in one member and a tongue 31 on the other, though they may be stapled together or otherwise secured.

When these units are formed of pulp, the interior of the cover and the dish are sprayed or otherwise coated with an impervious material such as plastic or parafline,

.3 and the exterior may be sprayed or embellished with any suitable color material to provide an aesthetic appearance.

I claim:

1. A 'butter package comprising two units, each including a plurality of separably connected dishes, each dish having side walls terminating in a surrounding shoulder which in turn terminates in a surrounding 11-pstanding flange having a plurality of rectangular slots formed therethrough with the longitudinal bottom edge in a plane coincident with the surface of said shoulder, a cover for each dish, each cover having side walls frictionally fitting Within the confines of the upstanding flange and having lateral projections of a length not to exceed the thickness of the upstanding flange and projecting from the lower end of the side Walls of the cover for engagement in said slots when the cover is pressed down to contact the side walls with said shoulder, the adjacent tops of the adjacent flanges of the respective dishes of each unit having separable connections, and an extension between exterior flanges on one side of the two units and having a length equal to the distance between the tops of the upstanding flanges of one unit invertedly supported on the other unit, and an extension from the top of the flange on the other side of each unit and including means for connecting the extensions together for securing the two units into a single package with one unit invertedly supported on the other, said extensions being weakened in planes coincident with the tops of the adjacent flange portions.

2. A package for shipment and serving of butter and butter substitutes comprising two units each consisting of a plurality of butter dishes each dish having a circumferential shoulder terminating in an upstanding flange,

and an individual cover for each dish and frictionally fitting within the upstanding flange, separable connections between the adjacent flanges of the dishes of each unit, an extended connection between the exterior upstanding flanges of adjacent sides of the two units and having a length equal to the space between the tops of the said exterior upstanding flanges when one unit is invertedly supported on the other, and cooperative connecting mem- 19ers extending from the opposite sides of the two units for securing the two units into a single package with one unit invertedly supported on the other, and means for connecting said connect-able members.

3. A structure as defined in claim 2, releasable securing means cooperative between the lower portions of the covers and the related upstanding flanges for securing the cover on the dish to retain the contents when. the invertable dishes are inverted over, or the inverted dishes are removed from the upright supporting dishes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,945,013 Wilson Jan. 30, 1934 2,026,171 Heymann Dec. 31, 1935 2,091,126 Speer Aug. 24, 1937 2,162,162 Murguiondo June 13, 1939 2,456,488 Brown Dec. 14, 1948 2,575,192 Shepard Nov. 13, 1951 2,687,157 Cowan Aug. 24, 1954 2,695,645 Tupper Nov. 30, 1954 2,743,839 Hulterstrum May 1, 1956 FOREIGN PATENTS 567,215 Germany Dec. 30, 1932 

